Memoirs of Marvene Cunningham Russell of Hopkins County, Ky.
In 1985 Suzanne Russell asked her mother to jot
down what she remembered of her early life and her parents, grandparents,
etc. The result was a marvelous 200 plus page memoire, hand written by
her mother. Her mother passed away in June 1987, just 2 years later.
The first few pages of this document which pertain to Hopkins County Ky
is presented here. If I can ever persuade Suzanne to transcribe the rest
of the memoires I'll add them later.
I am sitting here, the thing I do best, with pen and paper in
hand. I am apprehensive, for I am not sure I can pull this off. At
eighty-six, one is not always able to express their thoughts and
feelings. At the present time I am comfortably situated with my
daughter, Suzanne. We reside in Chattanooga.
I was born on January 14, 1899, in Madisonville, Hopkins County,
Kentucky. Parents, Mildred Jones Cunningham and Edwin Soper Cunningham.
Both families, the Joneses and Cunninghams, resided in Madisonville, and
since I being the first child in either family, I came in for a great
deal of attention. My father was a baritone singer, and member of a
local quartet. He being unemployed, we lived with my Jones
grandparents. The Joneses were parents of five daughters, my mother,
Mildred Ella Jones, being the third oldest, and one son. The youngest
were twins, a girl and the one son. My grandfather, Thomas Burton
Jones, fought in the Civil War as a Captain. Later he and my Uncle
Blount were in business together. They owned a wagon and buggy
manufacturing company. My grandfather had a great friend in Walter P.
Chrepeler. He approached my grandfather with a proposition to turn the
factory into building automobiles, at that time called horseless
carriages. The offer was refused.
I will endeavor to put down facts as I can remember them, about
the Jones family. Ola Jones Prichet was the oldest daughter. They had
no children. Georgie Jones Compton was a widow, after a marriage of one
year. She had no children. James R. Rash was calling on her, and I
became very fond of him. They were married shortly and lived in
Earlington, Kentucky where he was President of St. Bernard Coal Company.
Nan Jones Franceway was just a few years younger than my mother and her
husband, James, was a friend of my father and a member of the same
quartet. Blount Jones was unmaried when I went with him to call on
Katherine Tate and to play with her afflicted sister, Ermie. They were
married later. Blanch Jones Simpson was married to William Simpson and
they had one child, a daughter. My grandfather was born a Quaker, and
his family were farmers, but not slave owners. My grandmother was a
Ramsey and they owned a large plantation and had many slaves. She was a
devout Baptist, as was my mother.
Suzanne's notes:
1) Actually, Blount Jones and Katherine had one child, a daughter,
Virginia Jones who was born in 1899 and died just a few years ago
in a nursing home in Bowling Green. She never married.
2) Blanch Jones and William Simpson had three children, Margaret
Ramsey Simpson, John Burton Simpson, and Betsey Simpson. Margaret
married James Gideon Dollar and they had three daughters.
3) Thomas Burton Jones was a son of Solomon Walker Jones, a Methodist
minister and farmer who moved his family to Hopkins County from
Granville County, North Carolina about 1841. I have not been able
to reconcile my mother's statement that Thomas Burton Jones was
"born a Quaker" with this information.
4) Georgia Jones Rash and James R. Rash had one child who died as an
infant, possibly at birth. I happened upon his grave at Grapevine
several years ago
I will write down what I can remember and what I have been told
about the Cunningham family. Sometime in the 1700s the property and
holdings of three Cunningham brothers, of the aristocracy in Ireland,
were confiscated by the Crown, and the men were exiled to America. One
of them settled in Kentucky. I am directly descended from this Lord
Cunningham, the one who settled in Kentucky. My grandfather (Fountain
Cunningham, Jr.) died before I was born. He had been a wealthy man,
owning and operating the only livery stable in Madisonville. Through his
business, he made friends with racing people, and eventually went on the
road with a string of race horses. He was a drinking man. He lost all
his money and died with 'delirium tremens'. He left his wife and three
half grown children penniless. My grandmother (Kate Champion Harris) was
descended from an English General, who fought on America's side in the
War of 1812. His name was William Wingate. His daughter was Rebecca
Wingate Campbell, and she was the mother of my great grandmother,
Sophronia Campbell Harris. My grandmother was Kate Harris. Her
children were my father, Edwin, another son, Percival, and a daughter
Campbell who was called Cammy. When my grandfather lost everything, that
included the livery stable and their beautiful home. My great
grandmother, Sophronia, had a home and property on the corner of Main
Street and Broadway. She built a home on her lot, facing on Broadway,
for her daughter and children. Cammy eventually married a man named
Steven (Stephens) and they lived in Paducah. They had no children.
Percival was unmarried until in his forties. My father was the only one
with children.
Suzanne's Notes:
1) Fountain Cunningham, Sr. , born in Franklin County, KY in 1804,
was the son of John Cunningham and Sally Hickman. Sally was a
daughter of William Hickman, the first Baptist preacher in Forks
of Elkhorn Baptist Church in Franklin County. Fountain migrated
to Henderson County about 1823 and brought his younger brother,
William, with him. Both brothers are well documented in Henderson
County.
2) William Wingate and his wife, Sarah Chase, and their family are
well documented in Boone County, KY where they moved after the War
of 1812. I have not been able to confirm his part in the War, not
even his supposed rank.
3) The home place mentioned actually belonged to Sophronia's brother,
James E. Campbell. He was a bachelor who was cared for by his sister
and her daughter. He left the houses and property to them when he
died in 1909.
During the time we lived with the Joneses, my sister Georgia was
born. My father took a job with the L & N Railroad as a brakeman and we
moved to Nashville, Tennessee. Dates and times skip me, so I do not know
how long we lived in Nashville. Only a short time I am sure, for my
father was transferred by the railroad to Earlington, Kentucky as the
conductor on a short run train called the "Dinky". We lived in
Earlington for a few years. My brother Edwin was born there and then, on
my ninth birthday, my sister Nan was born. My father was at great pains
to stay put for very long at a time, so we moved back to Madisonville.
We had a home next door to my Aunt Ola and Uncle Jim Pritchet. My father
went into the laundry business with my Uncle Perce. My best girl friend
was Martha Lou Lafoon. Her father had at one time been the Governor of
Kentucky. He was also, as a young man, a candidate for my mother's hand
in marriage. In fact, she was courted by several wealthy young men, but
chose the poor one of the bunch.

During the time I lived in Madisonville, a monument honoring the
men of Hopkins County who fought in the Civil War was erected in Court
Square. Since I was the granddaughter of a prominent citizen in Hopkins
County, I was chosen to unveil the monument during the presentation
ceremony.

While we were living in Earlington, my mother's favorite sister,
my Aunt Nan, died at childbirth, leaving her first and only child, James
Francway.
Suzanne's Notes:
The Memoirs continue, but will not be continued here for my mother's
family soon moved to Arkansas after selling the laundry business.
If anyone reading this memoir can help with any missing pieces,
please let me know. I would love to find the parents of Fountain
Cunningham Sr., and his wife, Sarah Faulkner. I would also love to
confirm, or disprove, the family legend of "General William Wingate".
Another 'lost' ancestor is the husband of Rebecca Wingate Campbell.
He was Thomas Waller Campbell of Boone County. I think, but have
been unable to confirm, that his parents were William Campbell and
Amelia Green.
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